Digital sound Workstations (DAWs) tend to be an essential part of any recording setup, even yet in contemporary analog environments. Although it may be very easy to call it quits a few hundred dollars for certain business standard DAWs like ProTools (Avid), Logic (Apple) or Cubase (Steinberg) - as well as over a thousand for solutions such as Nuendo (Steinberg) - you can just as effortlessly find a usable solution at no cost (or free-ish). Here’s a closer view three popular, affordable DAWs: GarageBand, Audacity, and Reaper.
GarageBand: The Beginner's iDAW
GarageBand, included with every current Mac design, is an OS X-only multi-track DAW for recording and combining. It aids guitar/bass range inputs, sound inputs using a well liked audio software (such as an Apogee Duet or a Focusrite 2i2), and computer software instruments for usage with controllers such keyboards. While there are numerous integral themes for tasks such as “Amp range” and “Hip Hop” (including Apple-made loops), an empty task provides on a clean palette to build up a musical concept. Besides MIDI, GarageBand will help any existing AudioUnits (AU) plug-ins, since AU is a component of OS X’s Core sound API. GarageBand also incorporates numerous standard impacts including compression and equalization. Synth, drum device, and vintage organ samples can be obtained and a drum cycle collection for programming rhythms.
The capacity to combine straight down directly to iTunes or export directly to SoundCloud will appeal to any Mac-savvy sound specialist. If you are fans regarding the layout of OS X and Mac usability, the program has the same appearance. To round out of the knowledge, Apple features released Logic Remote, a free iOS application that converts an iPad into a controller. Support for GarageBand is primarily facilitated through Apple’s support web site.
Bottom Line: a good investment for beginners with a Mac or people just who love the clean, intuitive program of other Apple items.